Archive for August, 2013

You all know the saying: if life gives your lemons, make lemonade. There’s lots of lemonade in Borja, Spain these days.

Remember the botched restoration of the 19th century “Ecco Homo” a year ago in the Borja church? The one that inspired numerous art memes, a “Restoration Society,” references to monkeys and caused considerable anguish among conservationists? In case you don’t remember, you can revisit our blog entry on the episode here. Well, it appears all is forgiven. Cecilia Gimenez’s restoration, aka “Beast Jesus,” has also been attracting numerous visitors and is now inspiring the production of Borja approved “Beast Jesus” merchandise.

All profits from the merchandise are split between the Borja city council and the artist (49% for Gimenez and 51% for Borja). The city has begun charging an entrance fee of $1.30 to see the “restoration” with proceeds going to the Sancti Spiritus charitable foundation which helps care for the elderly in Borja.

All of this comes as a relief to Gimenez who has just opened her own art exhibition. “Now it seems like everyone’s happy.”

The Getty has announced that it is lifting restrictions on the use of images to which the Getty holds all the rights or are in the public domain. According to Getty President and CEO Jim Cuno, “the Getty makes available, without charge, all available digital images to which the Getty holds all the rights or that are in the public domain to be used for any purpose.” The Open Content Program will make approximately 4600 images of paintings, drawings, manuscripts, photographs, antiquities and sculpture and decorative arts from the J. Paul Getty Museum available in high resolution on the Getty’s Search Gateway for use without restriction. The Getty plans to add other images, until eventually all applicable Getty-owned or public domain images are available, without restrictions, online.

On the Open Content Program’s website, the Getty explains their decision: “we recognized the need to share images of works of art in an unrestricted manner, freely, so that all those who create or appreciate art—scholars, artists, art lovers, and entrepreneurs—will have greater access to high-quality digital images for their studies and projects. Art inspires us, and imagination and creativity lead to artistic expressions that expand knowledge and understanding. The Getty sincerely hopes that people will use the open content images for a wide range of activities and that they will share the fruits of their labors with others.

In 1963, Josef Albers, a painter and instructor at the Weimar and Dessau Bauhaus, published a classic text on design and art education called Interaction of Color. For Albers, Interaction of Color was more than a text — it was a handbook and teaching aid for artists, instructors and students. In honor of its 50th anniversary, Yale University Press has released an app for the iPad that visualizes Alber’s book as an interactive teaching tool along the lines of what Albers originally intended.

For more on the app, go here. The app is available for $9.99 at App Store.